A Rose in Winter
by Mystical Myst
Summary: This is a tale of how Hitomi must burden the war, in doing so grows closer to Allen than ever before. Come along on a journey through love and war.
1. Chapter 1

She still had trouble believing that this day had really taken place. The man that she had always had a crush on had just asked her hand in marriage. She did not know what to say at the time, she had been totally speechless, and know he had gone off into battle.

At the moment her head was swimming with thoughts, thoughts, about whether she should accept his offer, dreams about how their life would be like if she did. She also had the sickening doubt weather he would come back. Somewhere in the back of her mind she had the thought about Millerna as well, she knew full well that the princess had her eye on Allen for, well most likely, ever since she was old enough to know the difference between girls and boys.

She however could not stop her mid wondering back to the time when Millerna had come to her and played that little game about that, she had a friend with the problem, of choosing between to men and she had told her that she should not choose the man that had an forbidden love affair with a woman that in the end had led to conceiving a child, she was not dumb, at the time she knew full well that Millerna had been referring to, Allen and Dreiden, but how would Millerna react if she chose to become Allen's wife.

After what seemed like hours she finally let the darkness take her, into a world full of wonder, fear and doubt.


	2. Chapter 2

She did not know for how long she had slept, but when she finally woke from her restless sleep, it was well beyond dawn, at the look of it she would say that it was close to midday. She had apparently not realized how tired she had been, however one thing that she did realize and that was that Allen and Van had already left for battle, and this dampened her spirits a bit. She hated the fighting; she just wished that the whole thing would just stop.

There was of course also the question whether she should, accept Allen's offer, she realized that her long hours of debating about it had brought nothing, so in the end she decided that instead of sitting here and brooding over it all day, that she might as well put her self to good use, she was sure that there was plenty to do around the palace, and anyone would be glad to receive a lending hand. So she got up, grabbed the silver ring, that had been the ring that Allen had proposed with, she took off the chain that held the pendant, and linked the ring onto the same chain along with the pendant, she walked over to her dresser, and got dressed in the usual outfit that she wore, as soon as she had tied her shoe laces she was out of the door, and making her way down to the kitchens to have something to eat.

"Woops" she was currently walking up some very narrow stairs, or rather attempting to do so, while carrying, a load of bed spreads, comforters, and pillows, that had recently been washed, and that now had to be brought back to their rightful places, "Why does it always have to be that in a castle, the washing room is down in the cellar, and that the only way down there is by a passage of a very narrow and long stairs" she cried out annoyed, that the architect of medieval castles could not be a little more considerate of the poor servants, that had to walk this passage countless of times, with stacks of dirty sheets or clothes, she could just imagine the amount of sprained or broken limbs this passage had caused many poor souls.

As the day creped by slowly Hitomi found her day filled with work that needed to be done around the palace, such as cleaning dished, washing clothes, and so on, she also, went with Merle to the orphanage, to help there as well, for the war had left many children without a home, or a family, this was only another aspect of the reason that she could not stand the war. Her train of thoughts stopped however when a young little girl no older then 4 came up to her "When will the fighting stop?" Hitomi looked down at the little girl, and just looking at her would be enough to bringer her to tears, the little girl was covered in bruises, and had a nasty cut running down her left cheek, at the first sight of her you would think that she was merely filthy, but at a closer look at her one could see that in fact, it was not filth but rather burn marks, this little girl had obviously been in some kind of fire, before she came here. Hitomi bent down to pick up the young girl, and hold her close to her heart just like, a mother would have done with her infant, "Soon, honey, soon" she lied, she could not bare to tell this girl that had already gone through so much, that she in fact had no idea when this war would end, but she sure hoped that it would end soon. She did not know how long she stayed there comforting the poor child, but one thing that she did realize, was that she had two options now, the one was to go back to her home on earth, sure enough she would be far as she could from all of this fighting, but she would always have the question in the back of her head, of what if, what if she had stayed, what if she had helped to make a difference, or she could stay here and help make a difference. In that instant she had realized that she had made her decision.


	3. Chapter 3

When darkness began to fall, a messenger came to the orphanage, where Hitomi had been all day, he was sent to her with a message, that Allen Shezar had returned safely from the battle and had been granted 2 days leave. At the news of Allen's return Hitomi was not surprised to feel that her heart had skipped a beat. "A carriage will be here to take you back to the castle shortly, Miss" the messenger had told her.

And sure enough she did not have to wait long until she could hear the sound of thundering hooves, it was only a moment of more waiting until she could actually see the carriage come into sight, as it came closer, she was pleasantly surprised to notice that the coachman was non other than Gaddess himself. She took that as a good sign to at least know that he had survived the battle. Gaddess pulled the carriage to a stop right in front of her, he jumped down from the carriage, "Well hello, little lady" he said, as he moved to open the carriage door, "It is great to see you too Gaddess" was Hitomi's reply as she climbed into the carriage. It was not a second after she had seated herself on one of the soft benches that she could feel the carriage drive off, at a relatively high speed.

It seemed like a century till they finally arrived at the palace, although she knew that in fact it was more like 10 minutes, the carriage door was opened, and she once again was greeted by the face of Gaddess, "Well here we are" he informed her as he offered his hand, to help her get out of the carriage a bit easier, "The commander is waiting for you on the roof top" was the last information that she got before he drove off.

As she began to make her way up the roof top, she realized that for some strange reason that she was nervous, when she reached the narrow stairs that were the final passage to get to the roof, she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, so hard that for a moment she was wondering if it would actually break through her rib cage, and pop out. However all of these thoughts died as Allen came into her view. He was standing facing away from her, looking over the city that was slowly beginning to fall silent, as the darkness grew.

"Allen" she whispered, not daring to raise her voice anymore for fear that it would cause the magic of the moment to fade away to nothing. That one whisper however seemed to be enough to get his attention, for he turned around, and as he locked his eyes on hers, his expression softened, "Hitomi" he answered her in just as much whisper as she. "You were outside of the castle walls, again weren't you?" he asked her, "Yes, I was at the orphanage," she answered him and before he could say anything she continued "Allen, you can't expect me to stay locked up in a castle, all day" "I am aware of that, however, I would wish that you would be more careful" he told her as he walked up to her and embraced her in a warm embrace.

This embrace was what brought her back to the present, and she remembered about the ring, she gently pulled out of the embrace, much to the disappointment of Allen. She reached behind her neck and unclasped the chain, as he brought it in front of her, she grabbed the silver ring, that Allen had given her, pulled it off of the chain, she closed the chain again and pulled it over her head, so that once again it rested in it's rightful place, around her neck. She looked Allen straight in the eye, she felt a bit insecure in the fact that she could not really read what was going through the knights head. Never the less she continued, she took the ring, in her right hand and ever so slowly and carefully she slid it onto her ring finger on her left hand.

Allen immediately understood, and pulled her into an embrace, "I love you Hitomi" he told her "I love you too Allen" she said just before he swept down and captured her lips in a sweet and tender kiss, that was full of ever lasting love.


	4. Chapter 4

That night they slept in each other's arms, dreaming about what was to come. Although they new that the war was not over, they no longer faced it alone, they had each other.

When dawn came, they both felt more rested than they had in a long time, they both felt truly content for the first time in a long time. They spent that day together out in the nature, talking about things that were to come, they spoke about the future that they would now have together. All the troubles that they had gone through in the past now mattered no more. For they now had each other.

"I have a villa out in the country, we can live there if you so wish." He informed her. "Oh Allen! That would be great" They spent hours talking about things such as: where they would live, how their wedding would be, and things like that.

As the day wore on, Allen had been summoned to a counsel, about what to do about the war, every one wanted the war to end soon, every one except for King Aston himself, for some strange reason he was putting up the front of all that matters is Asturia, he did not care too much about the rest of Gaia, the thing is that he did not realise that once the rest of Gaia had fallen into the hands of the Zaibach empire. That Zaibach would then attack Asturia as well, and they would be without allies, for they would be all gone, and Asturia would fall, no matter how closely guard it was.

The only way that they could win over Zaibach was by all nations uniting under one banner, and now that the Duchy of Freid had fallen, well now their list of alliances was growing thin, they needed to act fast. Time was against them.

**A.N:** Thank you for your reviews, I really appreciate them.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Hey i am sorry that it took me so long to update this story, i had been suffering a minor case of writers block, but anyway here is chapter five, so i hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 5

As the war raged on, nations slowly began to gather. Cesario had now joined the fight against Zaibach. Although there was no change with King Aston, nations still charged determined into battle. It almost seemed like somebody had bound him with invisible chains that somehow could manipulate the King of Asturia.

By now Allen's leave of absence was over, and he once again had to go into battle, taking his place as the commander of the crusade, leaving Hitomi once again behind the walls of the palace of Asturia. Although Hitomi still did not like the fighting that was going on all around her, she did not hold Allen back either, she had by now understood that it was either he fought to defend his country or he stayed on the side lines and watch it get burned to the ground.

She would just wait on the sidelines for him, and dream of the day when they would marry.

Month passed, and as the climax of the war was nearing, it became more and more visible that the citizens of Gaia were slowly but surely growing more on edge. They had grown weary of the war, but at the same time they were scared of the outcome, which side would win. Casualties was something that was totally unavoidable, it was bound to happen, but those who had loved ones fighting in the war, were continuously filled with a dread that something might happen to them. Even Hitomi was having some trouble to keep thinking on the positive side of the war. She would keep on telling her self that it was ok that everything would be alright, though she still worried. She worried that this war was all her fault, she worried about how many would have fallen in the battles, she worried for Van and the crew of the crusade, but above all she worried about Allen.

She was however not alone she had Merle and Millerna by her side, to support her, at least once a day they would come, and although she kept a profile that said to most people that she was strong, those two for some reason could always see through it, and knew that in reality she was crushed inside. They would always come and give her comforting words such as, "Don't worry both Van and Allen are strong, they will make it" or "All of this would have happened, even if you had never come, Hitomi."

To say that she did not appreciate the support they gave her, would be a lie, there were a few times she would break down in their arms, though she did prefer to wait till she got to her sanctuary and break down there, finding the comfort in the knowledge of what was to come in the future.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The war had ended, Zaibach has fallen. Convoy after Convoy landed on the outskirts of Asturia as the troops were returning from the front, some of the convoys transported gymilefs others transported troops.

Word had reached the cities of Asturia that the men had returned, the people of Asturia rejoiced at this news, although there were also many that grieved at this news, for they knew that they would never see their loved ones again. Wives lost their husbands, mothers lost their sons, and girls lost their lovers.

Word continued to spread through Palads. Meanwhile life in the castle of Palads, was not quiet, it was rather hectic, Hitomi had received news that Allen and Van had returned alive, with no broken bones, no limbs missing and other than a few bruises and scrapes, they were fine. Merle, well she was just overly overjoyed that Van had returned and that he was fine.

She wasted no time in going down to the court yard, where she had been told that the crew from the crusade were going to arrive, she ran like she had never ran before, if she were timing herself, she would easily be able to beat the thirteen seconds that she had told Amano that she would.

FLASHBACK

Hitomi ran down to the track field, where she could see a young man standing there, he was talking to some of his friends, at first she thought that maybe she should turn around and go back, though then she saw that, he was saying goodbye to his friends, she waited until they were gone to go down to him. "Amano!" she called out as she saw that his friends had gone. Amano reacted right away, turning around to see who had called him. "Hitomi?" he asked, discovering who it was that was calling out his name. Hitomi came skidding to a stop, she bent over trying to catch her breath, and once she did she straightened up again and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Amano, if I can run 100 meters in 13 seconds…" she trailed off a bit, wondering if she really had the courage to do this, but then again, if she did not do it know then when would she? Ok she would do it. "then would you be my first kiss?" she asked.

END OF FLASHBACK

But now she was not concerned with whether she could run 100 meters in 13 seconds, now she was just concerned with finding her beloved and Van, to make sure that they were ok.

It felt like ages until she finally came to the large oak doors, the guards were standing there like always, and when they saw her coming immediately opened the massive doors for her. As she stepped out into the open, she noticed that many of the people were standing there; it seemed that the wounded had already been taken to the medical barracks. She looked around the court yard, until finally her eyes fell on the one man that she was looking for, her fiancé, "ALLEN!"


	7. Chapter 7

Allen spun around at the familiar sound of his beloved.

Hitomi came to a sudden stop when she noticed that there was another woman in Allen's arms.

Allen bent down and spoke quietly to the woman in his arms, "Come, I want you to meet someone" the girl looked a bit nervous but smiled none the less. Allen gently grabbed her hand and led her to Hitomi.

"Hitomi" Allen said as he reached Hitomi, bending down and giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Allen, I am glad to see you back safe" Hitomi told him in a very stiff and emotionless voice. Allen seemed to not register the tone of voice that she had used, and took a step back, and took the woman's hand in his hand once again. "Hitomi, I want you to meet someone" Allen looked to the woman and gently urged her forward. "Hitomi, this is my sister Celena".

Hitomi could not believe the shock she felt along with the relief, she immediately grabbed Celena into a tight hug, she felt Celena momentarily stiffen, but quickly returned the hug.

The sun was beginning to set and the people of Asturia were beginning to make their ways back home, to get ready for the feast that was to be held that very night to celebrate the defeat of Zaibach and her allies.

"The feast will begin in a few hours, we should go and prepare" Allen said as he took a step closer to the girls locked in an embrace. Both Hitomi and Celena broke apart and smiled up at Allan. Hitomi walked up to the right side of Allan and Celena took the left side. Both girls threaded their arms through Allen's, and all three of them made their way into the castle. The first stop was Celena's room were Allan and Hitomi walked in with his sister and made sure that she was ok.

Then both Allan and Hitomi made their way to Hitomi's room.

They stopped outside the door to Hitomi's room and faced each other. Allan brought his hand up to Hitomi's face gently stroking her cheek and sighed. "What is it?" Hitomi asked, although her voice was even, her eyes held worry. "I fear that you do not really accept Celena"

Hitomi's eyes grew wide with confusion "What do you mean?" she asked bringing her hands up to clasp them in front of her chest, "I saw your reaction, when I told you that she was my sister" Allen took a small step forward "The last thing that I want is a quarrel between the two women whom I love more then anything"

Hitomi's hands once again dropped to her sides and she began to chuckle softly, moving up close to Allen she grabbed the from of his vest with one hand and reached up to gently caress his face, "Oh Allen, it is not that I don't like her, believe me I do, its just that, when I saw you with her I didn't know that she was your sister, and I truly believed that maybe you had fallen in love with another"

Hitomi brought her hand down from his face and placed it along with her other hand on his chest "What do you mean Hitomi? You are my betrothed" he told her as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tighter towards him.

"Oh, Allen! Can you forgive me for having a shallow moment?" at his nod she continued "The thing is you see that I sometimes have a hard time believing that you could love me, when you could have whatever woman you wanted in Gaia let alone Asturia" she said as she looked down.

Allen gave a quiet sigh and used a hand to bring her face up to look at him in the eyes, he then moved the hand to gently stroke her hair "You are the only one for me Hitomi, I love you" and with that he moved down to seal the declaration of love with a passionate kiss, which left both of them breathless.

"We should go and get ready for the celebration" Hitomi told him once they had broken apart, and with one more kiss, she walked into her room to go and get ready for dinner, as Allen made his way to his own room down the hall.


End file.
